


I want to be shining, only in your eyes

by itsgameover



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Anal Sex, Book Critic Kim Jongdae | Chen, Divorced Father Kim Junmyeon | Suho, Domestic, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, M/M, Phone Sex, Smut, it's a lot more wholesome than what the horny tags may suggest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:28:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28250157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsgameover/pseuds/itsgameover
Summary: Junmyeon and Jongdae meet because of a lost child and it’s wonderful.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Junmyeon | Suho
Comments: 10
Kudos: 64
Collections: Starry Suho Fest (R1)





	I want to be shining, only in your eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Starry Suho Round 1. Prompt #S113.  
> Thank you so much for the mods for running this wonderful fest <3 I can't wait to read all the other works!  
> Thank you to my delightful M who I love so much and who kept me hype for this fic  
> (also, she doesn't hate Jongdae in this one, and considering my tendency for making him a little bit dumb that's good!)  
> Thank you to you too, dear reader, hope you enjoy my little story as much as I enjoyed writing it :D

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Being alone is sometimes very hard. The empty apartment, the quietness of the nights, broken by the sounds of cars passing on the street. Jongdae is content living alone most times, well aware that no one really is alone if you have family and friends, but he is still very much concerned about loneliness. 

Working from home hasn’t done much for his ‘lone wolf’ view of the world. Being a book critic doesn’t really come with a package of friends, just hardback copies of new releases and praises for being honest and raw but never rude. 

Chen is the critic that writes witty reviews and makes the authors feel not as bad for publishing something that cannot be called other than garbage. Jongdae is just the plain dude sitting on a sofa, highlighting sections that he thinks are cool or hideous and categorizing books in his shelves on a scale of ‘would recommend to my soulmate’ to ‘want to burn in the stake’. 

Funny he has a ‘soulmate’ book category and really no lover to call  _ his _ . Loneliness is much more tolerable when you know it will end, but Jongdae hasn’t had a boyfriend or girlfriend or anything since college and he is pushing thirty now. 

Jongdae has come to realize he is a very quiet man in days when neither his family or his friends need him for anything. It’s not that they only communicate with him when there is something he can do for them, but it feels nice being needed, being someone they can rely into when they have a hard time doing things on their own.

Perhaps, it was loneliness and the feeling of being unhelpful that led him to say yes when Baekhyun asked Jongdae to take his shift in the mall’s reception. It’s not like Baekhyun had literally pleaded with both hands clasped tightly like he was praying and it’s not like his girlfriend was coming back from a semester long interchange in New York and he wanted to pick her up in the airport. Jongdae said yes, because he is a good friend and he has empathy, that’s it. Not because he was in the lowest of lows when that happened and really needed to feel like he was necessary. 

“Tell Taeyeon I said hi” Jongdae says and Baekhyun hugs him tightly before running away to catch a taxi, leaving Jongdae with a book and just a few minutes to get himself adjusted to the job.

The high empathy and endless kindness his mother always preached will be the reason and excuse he will use until his death comes to explain why he is stuck on the reception, tapping the end of a blue pen against the chipboard desk, mindlessly watching as people walk by, scarcely being approached by a woman or a man who ask him for directions to this or that store. 

The first floor of the mall is mostly clothing, books and office supplies stores. On the second floor is where the fun is at, since most restaurants have their little tables and chairs lined up against the rails, looking down at the people that walk on the big hall of the first floor. Jongdae can almost taste the flavor of steak fries, he can almost feel the bitter taste of beer on his tongue. 

But no, instead of intruding in the busy food store his brother manages, Jongdae is stuck in a desk, his only joy coming from the ability to choose which songs will play in the probably too old music system of the mall. With a longer-than-life playlist on his hands, Jongdae has played things like Catch Me If You Can, Crazy = Genius, The Hardest Part and Arabella. No one can stop a mad man when he is in charge of the vibe of the mall with walls painted in pastel colours and a big rounded fountain surrounded by palm trees. 

The ending lines of Gee are playing when a small knock calls his attention. He had been seated back in the wheeled chair, tapping his fingers mindlessly against the desk, when he heard it. Then a voice came. 

“Excuse me!” a little voice claims so Jongdae stands up and leans over the desk. In front of him is a girl with wide brown eyes and two pigtails. She is on her tiptoes, hands gripping the edge of the desk, eyeing him with concern. 

“Oh, hello there” Jongdae rests his elbows on the desk, smiling at the cute child.

“Hello, kind sir,” she then says, with furrowed eyebrows “I want to report that my daddy went missing, please help me find my daddy.”

Jongdae panics, pretty much sure that the situation at hand is probably the other way around and there is a terrified father walking around the mall looking for his kid. Still, he purses his lips and his eyebrows quip upwards only in the middle.

“Your daddy is missing?” he asks. The kid nods, Jongdae caresses his chin with his right hand, thinking “What’s your name, darling?”

“Eunbi!” she answers quickly. 

“What a pretty name! Tell me, Eunbi, do you know your daddy’s name?” she shakes her head no. Jongdae ponders for a moment how else could he call the father if not by name? “That’sa pity. Well, do you know your last name?” she nods. 

“Kim!” Eunbi answers with a smile that’s very clearly missing a tooth. 

“Oh, same as mine!” Jongdae opens the small door, letting the girl get past the desk and helping her sit in the wheeled chair “Give me a second” he says, clearing his voice before opening the mic “Good afternoon, shoppers of of Elyxion Mall, this is a public service announcement. Mr Kim, your daughter is at the receptionist’s desk, waiting for you. Please come as soon as possible. Thank you for your attention!” he sighs, turning to the girl with a big smile “So, what’s your favourite color Eunbi? Mine’s blue.”

Not five minutes later, Jongdae sees a man with a baby blue sweater and a clearly concerned expression running towards the desk. The man stops to catch his breath and smile widely as he sees the girl playing with the keyboard of Jongdae’s computer. He sorts the probably dozen bags to one arm, stepping forward with much more calmness in his expression. 

“Daddy!” Eunbi screams, jumping from the chair and into the arms of her relieved father. 

“Oh my God, you scared me so much,” he says, hugging her tightly. 

“Daddy you let go of my hand!” Eunbi complays, smacking his chest with a tiny hand when they separate. “You could have gone missing! Stranger danger!”

The man laughs, scooping her up with an arm and pressing a kiss to her forehead. The girl laughs, enveloping her dad’s neck with her arms and laughing bubbly. Jongdae is more than impressed by the sheer display of strength. How can one have an arm full of giggling toddler and another of shopping bags and make it look like a nonchalant effort rather than a dying experience? How big must his arms be under the sweater to be able to do all that? Asking for a friend. 

The pair turn to Jongdae, who puts on his most polite public service smile. 

“Thank you so much for finding her,” the father says, bowing his head slightly and approaching the desk once more. 

“Ah, it’s nothing” Jongdae replies, hand gesture dismissing the whole thing “Besides, I think it’s quite the contrary” Jongdae takes a hand to his mouth, pretending to be telling a secret as he whispers shouts “I think she found me” Eunbi laughs as Jongdae winks playfully. “You’ve got a very bright kid, Mr. Kim.”

“Oh, please, just call me Junmyeon” the father says, and wow does his name sound super nice or is it Jongdae’s imagination? “I owe you so much for this.”

“Nonsense, it’s my work”

“Still, thank you very much er…”

“Jongdae” 

“He has my last name!”

“Really?” Junmyeon raises a questioning brow and Jongdae nods “Well, then I guess this is family business”

Jongdae certainly hopes they are not related. Still, he answers, “Ah, then families don’t owe each other!” 

“Daddy, we have to go to ballet!”

“Oh, right, your first class and we are already late. Jesus” he turns back to Jongdae, smiling and disheveled but so pretty. Are all distressed dads this handsome? “Again, thank you Jongdae. I hope to see you again”

“Same goes for you. Although, hopefully it’s not with another missing father case”

“Hopefully not.” 

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“...and then you cross this strand with the one in the middle and… that’s it!” Joohyun says, tying the little red ribbon on the end of Eunbi’s long black braid. The girl smiles up at her aunt, who leans down to kiss her forehead and squish her cheeks. 

“Daddy, can aunt Joohyun do my hair every morning?”

Junmyeon would be offended by the question, except that Eunbi’s hair is currently decorated with a fishtail braid and the best he can do is a simple three strands one. So he looks at his sister who simply shrugs and smiles. 

“If you wake up every day three hours before school time and walk all the way to our house, then I may have time for you”

Eunbi’s disgruntled expression is enough to make everyone in the room burst in laughter. 

“Mommy, we’ll be late for ballet!” Yerim chimes and of course the little miss perfectionism is right.

“Take care, ok?” Junmyeon tells his little girl, sending her away with a big cheek smooch to her uncle, Junmyeon’s brother in law who takes both girls to class every Tuesday and Thursday because he goes to work at the same time they start their lessons. 

“So,” Joohyun says once the husband and the girls have left the apartment, turning to the highest of shelves “what will it be today? Rum? Whiskey on Ice? Cream Liqueur? Or maybe we can finally try that Vodka I brought from my Bolshoi years!”

“Honestly, all I want is beer and maybe some chips,” Junmyeon says, sitting down in one of the high stools sitting on opposite sides of the breakfast bar. 

Joohyun tsks her tongue. “So bloody basic,” she says, opening her fridge and bringing out two small beer bottles. 

“And the chips?”

“We are trying to get Yerim to eat more healthy so no chips in the house,” she slides her index finger across her neck, sighing in defeat “There is only roasted veggies and a bit of radish”

Junmyeon ponders for a moment the nature of roasted veggies versus the superior quality of potato chips. He could cross the street and buy a bag of chips or… “I’ll take the veggies, I’m hungry and lazy.”

“Lazy!” She slaps him in the arm, making him wince “You have all that muscle and you say you are lazy! I am lazy! Haven’t done exercise since June!” 

Junmyeon smiles. It has been very nice to work in a building where there is a gym and he has breaks long enough for a quick workout and a shower.

And in between getting the roasted veggies from the fridge and warming them up in the oven, Joohyun’s phone has been blowing up with texts from her friends, including a few names that Junmyeon remembers from their high school years. Joohyun, the observant owl that she is, points out that she never hears Junmyeon’s phone make any sort of noise and he assures that it is because it’s on mute but the truth is that no one texts him outside of school events or work things. 

Joohyun, of course, sees through his lies. 

“I mean, you are so stressed and social-lifeless that you almost lost Eunbi on the way to her first ballet lesson.” 

Junmyeon grunts, he doesn’t want to be remembered of the moment he almost ran face first into an incoming train because he felt so incompetent. But he lucked out, Eunbi is smart and found a receptionist who was not only kind but extremely sweet. Handsome too, a little voice inside his mind says. And Junmyeon owes that handsome stranger so much. With so many bad people in the world… he doesn’t even want to think what could have happened to his daughter in the hands of an awful man. 

“You need to go out a little bit more, Myeon,” she says with a nod, offering a fork and taking one for herself, moving the veggies in the plate until she finds what she wants. “You are getting old and Eunbi is getting bigger and happier and needs her dad to look a little bit more alive. Mom says you need to get dicked down or dick someone as soon as possible or you’ll be old and grey before her.”

“Joohyun!” Junmyeon’s horrified expression makes Joohyun laugh but what’s new about that. “Don’t be disgusting!” He insists, slapping her hand lightly. 

“What? It’s true! Mom said it! She texted me asking for you, since your evidently superior older sister still needs to take care of you,” she defends herself, smiling broadly. Junmyeon knows it’s probably true, still it bothers him that his mother thinks that “. She’s worried about you, like we all are…” Then the sentimentality of her estatement is taken by the throat and punched repeatedly as she speaks: “Come on, Myeonnie! Put to use those bisexual skills that got you mad hoes in university! Oh man, I remember Dad was so scared you were going to get a girl pregnant.” 

“Yeah I remember too,” Junmyeon says through a giggle, “You told him, and I quote, ‘don’t worry dad, he prefers twinks’”

Joohyun leans over the table, eyes narrowed and lips pursed “Look me in the eye and tell me I was lying…”

“You weren’t,” he concedes, fully aware of his preferences, remembering he dated four dance students because they were all lithe and tall and so handsome but so pliant too... “But still,” he says, coming back to the present and the bottle of beer in his right hand “I can’t go out to date random people and leave Eunbi alone. All she has is me.”

“Never heard of her again?” Joohyun asks. 

“Last thing I knew she was on a self-discovering journey in Borneo or something like that…” Junmyeon fidgets with the end of his sleeve, pretty sure that if he keeps pulling, the button will come out “that was...two years ago”

“I still can’t believe she left like that,” Joohyun tsks her tongue some more, shaking her head mournfully. “But that’s besides the point! Myeonnie, Eunbi is six years old, has her wonderful cousin Yerim to help her and a fantastic aunt to vouch for her and fill in the role of mom-that-lets-me-do-all-I-want” Joohyun tilts her head to the right, staring at him with those ‘big sister than can and will see through your soul’ eyes. It’s unfair that older sisters can do that thing, superpowers are not allowed! 

“You can’t let yourself rot away inside your own home. It’s been four years, four! You have been raising her on your own, away in a foreing country until you finally heard mom’s pleas and came back to the good old safe home.” She finishes her beer in one swig, taking one slice of roasted beet in between her fingers, leaning forward “Admittedly you’ve done a wonderful job with her, she is respectful and kind and so sweet, but milking you dry won’t do good to either of you,” and then she swallows the beet in one go. 

“Ok then,” Junmyeon finishes his beer too, still competitive as he was with Joohyun when they were children “What do you suggest?”

“Well...” she says, the wicked smile on her lips telling him that she is up to no good, “I have a friend who has a brother in law who has been single for a long time...”

Junmyeon sighs, “So, a blind date?”

“A blind date!” she yells, excited for the idea of setting her little brother up with a total stranger. 

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“Daddy, daddy, look!” Eunbi yells in the middle of the mall, putting her feet together and raising her arms, standing in position with the most elegant of expressions. She makes a plie, a releve and a saute. Junmyeon knows the names because he grew up next to prima ballerina Joohyun who danced around the globe for a short time before trading her shoes for a career in modelling. Both were mildly successful and inspired all of her cousins to try to become either ballerinas or models. 

“Wonderful work, Geumbi!” he cheers, clapping softly and grabbing the hand she offers to him. 

“Was it good?” Eunbi asks.

Junmyeon nods, “of course it was!” 

“So good that I can get an ice cream?”

Junmyeon stops in his tracks, looking down at his little daughter, her smiling little face full of mirth and mischief. She is too cute to say no, so he does not say no. Besides, since last Tuesday he followed Joohyun’s healthy meal program and this would be the first ice cream in nearly a month. It’s not that bad, he’s still a good dad. 

“I see your tricks, little miss. Ok, we’ll get some ice cream.”

Eunbi cheers all the way to the ice cream store, smiling brightly and chanting ‘ice cream! ice cream!’. There is a bit of a line in the store, so Junmyeon works out his mental muscles by thinking how many hours of sleep he will have to trade in order to finish the goddamn apartment complex project before the morning. 

When it’s finally their turn, Junmyeon is pleasantly surprised to meet a somewhat familiar face on the other side of the cream colored counter. 

“Hello, what can I get you?”

“Dad! It’s the mister that helped me find you!” Eunbi says, tiptoeing to stare over the tall counter, hands holding on to dear life before Junmyeon picks her up in her arms. 

“It is,” Junmyeon smiles at the man, happy that he can meet again the man who saved him from an early age cardiac arrest. “Jongdae, right?”

“Yes, and you are little miss Eunbi and her missing dad Junmyeon, isn’t it?” Jongdae’s smile is wide and so pretty, chiseled cheekbones covered in pink dusting, blushing in a way that makes Junmyeon’s heartbeat a little bit faster.

Junmyeon nods, laughing, “I’m not missing today, thankfully” “Do you work here?”

“No, not really. My brother owns the place so I drop by to help or to bother, sometimes both”

“It’s both today,” a girl says, walking towards the large fridges and placing a huge metallic bucket of what looks like strawberry ice cream.

“You are rude, Seungwan, very rude!” Jongdae retorts, shaking his head as he turns to father and daughter. “Well, what can I get for our little miss here?”

“A big ice cream! Two flavors!” 

“Oh, two?” Jongdae says, eyebrows up but smiling never faltering “Bold choice, what flavours?”

Eunbi makes a show of choosing both the flavors and the little free additions, rainbow sprinkles and tiny marshmallows, and begs her dad to buy her some extras like tiny chocolate pieces and a plastic spoon in the shape of a unicorn. And her dad says yes, because Eunbi’s big pleading eyes are too adorable to resist and because the handsome stranger, Jongdae his name is Jongdae, keeps looking at him with the biggest smile and wow, he truly hasn’t been out much with adults he is not blood-related to.

“And for you, sir?”

“Call me Junmyeon, please” he says, feeling his cheek heat furiously “I just want a chocolate one”

“Chocolate for Junmyeon it is,” and in mere moments he delivers a perfectly scooped chocolate ice cream for him.

“Thank you,” Junmyeon extends the credit card over the counter. 

“No, thank you,” Jongdae replies, sliding the card back into the hands of its owner, “This one's on me. Enjoy your ice cream!” Jongdae says, then he walks away, replaced by the girl he called Seungwan. 

Junmyeon is so shocked that Eunbi has to remind him that the ice cream melts. 

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“That’s good! You look Fantastic!” Seulgi says after putting the last bit of black eyeliner on Jongdae’s eyes. 

Jongdae is a fucking idiot, the biggest idiot in the galaxy, the dumbest man ever. How can one man be so dumb is a question that science should have made a long time ago. 

He is dumb because how did he allow his sister in law to convince him that a blind date is a good idea? Because it’s not a good idea, it’s a terrible one! Doomed to fail from the start. Jongdae has exactly three topics of discussion and one of them is war crimes committed by Japan because he made an essay about it in college, so he is not exactly the life of the party. 

Jongdae struggles with casual conversation, blushing and sweating like a mad man whenever he has to speak to another human being. If it is a handsome man then that’s worse! He is a shy gay not an extrover one, which is why he is dedicated to book critics and not the entertainment industry like his college friends are. 

“It’s too much…” he whispers but she shushes him with a slap in the wrist, metaphorical and physical. 

“Come on, Dae, it’ll be fun. It’s just a stranger…” Jongdae cocks his head to the side, eyebrows rising in the middle of his face. “Ok, that didn’t sound good but what I mean is that if you don’t like them then you can simply not see them again! They don’t even have your number or your name, nothing! Blind date!”

“It’s really necessary?” Jongdae rebutes, standing up to watch himself in the long mirror, black jacket over a white shirt and pressed slacks as if he was going to a business party and not a random kind of high-end bar but still a bar. “You know, I can afford dying alone...”

“Yes, we know,” his brother assures, stepping into the room “but you’ll most likely get scammed by a young twink at age 45 and end up poor and living in a government funded shelter which means it’ll be full of rats.” 

“You are so kind with me,” Jongdae mocks, grimacing when his older brother blows a raspberry like the toddler he holds in his arms. 

“Ok, it's time!” Seulgi chimes, scorting him to the door and handing him the keys of his car. “Come on, go get some ass, champ! Or give your ass! Whatever you are into!”

He looks over his shoulder as he walks to the driveway, totally in awe that his sister behaves like such an hetero while still being entirely bisexual. 

He arrived at the bar fourteen minutes before the time but somehow he still got beaten to the place. Seulgi told him the man would be wearing a light blue shirt and unless someone else is into that holographic late eighties aqua aesthetic the man sitting at the end of the bar must be the one. 

Jongdae is already fidgeting with his jacket, the sleeves are too long, he feels suffocated and ready to fight or fly. Maybe he shouldn’t have agreed to this at all, it’s a stupid idea. Jongdae has no social skills besides basically being a one-word-answers npc hanging in the side plots of life. His books are his closests friends, and Baekhyun, Baekhyun too. He should go back to his home and finish the book he has lined up for his monday magazine critique. 

He inhales, exhales and steps forward, sink or swim they say 

“Excuse me,” he calls, tapping the man’s shoulder, “Are you by any chance waiting for a blind date?” The music is not too loud but the lights are a little bit brighter than what he expected so it makes him feel a little bit uncomfortable. 

“Jongdae?” the man says. It takes Jongdae a moment to see that the man with his hair up and a single earring is the distressed father from the mall. The coconut haircut really hides a beautiful face. 

“Oh, Junmyeon?” 

The man laughs, “Are you seriously my blind date? Man, Joohyun has a crystal ball.”

“Joohyun?” Jongdae asks. 

“Oh, my sister. She set me up for this…”

“Oh, I... that’s good,” Jongdae stammers, nervous for a whole different reason than being set up for a date with a random stranger who could potentially be a serial killer. “Can I...?” he says, pointing at the stool next to the handsome man. 

“Of course, please,” Junmyeon says, turning so they are looking at each other. The bartender asks what they will have. Junmyeon says a martini, Jongdae goes for a glass of red wine. Junmyeon’s little smile is both endearing and totally overwhelming. 

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“A book critic?” Joohyun asks, serving the orange juice her daughter requested. Junmyeon nods, doing his own share of dad work by cutting Eunbi’s meat in little pieces. “What did you say it was his name?”

“Jongdae,” Junmyeon says, smiling softly. 

Eunbi looks at him with those big and bright eyes of hers, open like plates, and when she is about to open her mouth, Junmyeon shakes his head slightly, only noticeable if you pay attention, and his daughter pouts but doesn’t say a thing. He doesn’t want Joohyun to know that he went on a blind date with the man who kept his daughter safe that one time he lost her in the mall. She’d start yelling about destiny and fate and irrational things like that. 

“So we may have another person over for Chuseok?” his brother in law says and Joohyun’s eyes fill with mischief. 

“Yes! Invite him!”

“Chuseok is too many months away and we haven’t even spoken again”

Joohyun judges him for a good ten seconds, before deciding she won’t speak on the table about whatever is going through her head right now. It’s better like that, sometimes his sister can be quite... intense about topics that are not child appropriate. Luckily she is a good mother and Yerim being on the table saves him from annoying chats about his private life.

“Text him!” Joohyun chides when he is helping her wash the dishes, slapping his arm with a soap-covered hand. “Please, Myeonnie, if you liked him, text him. Give him a chance.” Her eyes go soft, her expression more mellow, tilting her head as she asks: “You did like him, right?”

Junmyeon continues to dry the plates, staring at one spot of dirt above the sink. Jongdae is a man with a charming smile, a lithe physique and eyes dark but somehow still warm, he is a little bit shy and it took a few drinks for conversation to flow a little bit more easy, Eunbi a good topic of conversation for the proud dad that he is. 

“She does ballet?” Jongdae has asked, chin resting on the palm of his hand, soft smile tugging the corners of his mouth. 

“Yeah, her aunt used to be a prima ballerina and well, pretty much every girl in the family has wanted to be like her ever since”

“That’s so cool,” Jongdae’s eyes light up, “My family is full of boring businessmen or even more boring accountants.”

“Safe career choices,” Junmyeon notes.

Jongdae scoffs, “boring career choices. I think that if had been hetero I would have been the most boring man.”

Junmyeon smiles, “lucky for both of us you are not hetero.”

“For both?” the man’s cheshire lips lift a little bit more, tongue peeking slightly. 

“I mean,” he looks to the side, fixing the collar of his shirt with a hand to distract himself. “You are handsome”  _ and I could get to like you if we met more often _ . 

“Thank you, you too. Very.” Jongdae makes a pause, a poignant one that feels like it will precede something heavy. But he only smiles more, leans forward and asks: “You go to the gym right?”

The conversation had trailed off then, lost in a mirage of workout regimes and Jongdae, very obviously, pretending he actually cared about the answers. What at first was an uncomfortable stare became progressively more flattering, Jongdae’s eyes fixated on his lips, on his hands, and he dares to think once it was lost on his neck. 

Surprisingly, Junmyeon liked it. 

It had been so long since he had been stared at like that. Sure, some of the moms of Eunbi’s classmates had looked at him in a very… interesting way but it didn’t have that electrical charge. Jongdae’s stare was very intentional, very, dare he say, sexual. It was like Jongdae was waiting for a moment to bite him, leaning closer and closer one drink after the other. 

In the end nothing had happened because it was a blind date with a stranger who, handsome and cute and all things aside, could have been a serial killer or simply a weirdo. Each of them took a taxi, not before exchanging numbers and waving at each other with a silly smile, and haven’t spoken since. Granted it had been only two days and Junmyeon vaguely remembers Jongdae saying that he had to finish a review quickly or the editors would be out for his head. 

“Yeah, I did like him.”

“Then text him, you stupid fool!” Joohyun insists, soapy hand landing on his cheek and actually stinging. 

The vengeance comes in the form of a wet cloth to the face and if it hadn’t been for Yerim walking into the kitchen, Joohyun would have most likely committed fratricide. 

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

“Do you like red beer?” Junmyeon asks as they walk through the semi-vacant park west of the suburbs. 

Jongdae, fidgeting with the keys inside the pockets of his jacket, nods. Junmyeon smiles, grabs his arm and starts strutting towards the small food truck located on the other side of the path. 

Honestly, Jongdae has fallen over hills and that is scary. Ever since the short but very sweet blind date, they haven’t stopped meeting. It took a few days for them to dare text each other but when it finally happened, it was nice, smooth like they had been friends for a long time. 

Junmyeon is a man with childlike glee, who likes too many things at once and holds people tight in small spaces. 

One afternoon they took the train to get to a cinema with a V.I.P screening room, comfy cushions and coffee tables and no loud babies. Junmyeon kept talking about architecture, definitely passionate about his job, up until the train started to fill and he nervously wrapped a hand around Jongdae’s waist, pressing him closer. It had been a month since they started seeing each other and Jongdae had trouble keeping his thoughts at bay. 

All of that means that when they stand in line to buy a beer and some bacon and eggs fries, five months under their belts and autumn falling over the city, Jongdae can say that he expected the arm that sneaked around his body, running circles above his hip bone. 

It’s a very popular food truck, so there are lots of people waiting for their share of greasy food. And while Junmyeon has never expressed anything about anxiety, a man who is uncomfortable in most social scenarios with strangers as Jongdae is can see that there is clearly something about crowds that make Junmyeon anxious. 

So, Jongdae understands the panic and tries to distract him. It works, since Junmyeon’s serious expression falls and he starts to chat happily. He loves to talk about Eunbi and Jongdae, who has a soft spot for the tiniest of peoples, is always all too eager to listen. Eunbi has started to ask about ‘Mr Dae’ as she calls him, probably because she has heard her father talk on the phone using that sweet nickname. Jongdae started asking his editor to recommend him some good children’s books, even gifted her some for her birthday. Eunbi had bowed like a noblewoman from old times and told him he was ‘a most kind sir’, Junmyeon had shrugged and so Jongdae accepted that some kids watch dramas when their aunts take care of them. 

“She has a school play in two days,” Junmyeon says. They are sitting cross legged in the grass near a big lamp post, cold green grass under them but they are still so warm, drinking beer and eating fries without a care. 

“They do school plays in elementary school?” Jongdae asks, fishing a piece of bacon from the fries basket.

“Yes, and it’s Peter Pan” the adorable father answers, smiling as his eyes look at the street down the small hill of the park. It’s busy with a lot of people yet the sound doesn’t reach them. “She’s going to be a lost kid”

Jongdae snorts, “so she’ll get to wear pajamas at school?”

Junmyeon nods “She’s so excited about that.”

It goes unnoticed for a moment then it becomes a dawning reality that they have been holding hands for twenty minutes now. But when Jongdae looks up from their threaded fingers he doesn’t see the rejection he expected but rather a hesitant smile and those tender, gentle almond shaped brown eyes. 

“Do you want to go to the play with me?” Junmyeon asks, his soft smile holding a hundred possibilities, a thousand promises, a million wonders and Jongdae wonders then and there why has never kissed him. Then wonders why he is not kissing him now.

“S-sure,” Jongdae answers, Junmyeon tightens the hold of his hand. He relaxes, let’s go and leans back on the grass, soon followed by Junmyeon and the beer gets forgotten in favour of anecdotes that give them deep belly laughs. 

It’s a good night, Jongdae thinks when Junmyeon drives him to his home, squeezing his hand before letting go of him on the doorstep of his apartment building. 

Jongdae falls asleep wishing he was still holding Junmyeon’s soft and warm hand. 

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

“McDonald’s, McDonald’s, McDonald’s!” Eunbi chants from the back seat, still wearing her pink pajamas and cuddling her teddy bear like life depends on it. 

“McDonald’s you say?” Junmyeon asks, steering to the right. He glances at Jongdae for a moment and smiles “What do you think?”

Honestly it’s not his place to speak on what Junmyeon should do with his kid but has been thrown in the dance floor and what he can do now but dance. And Eunbi seems to like him well enough already but maybe he could shape the stars in his favour a little bit more. 

“Well, her teacher said she did a great show today,” Jongdae says, thumb and index finger brushing his chin pensively.

“I did!” Eunbi says. 

“Maybe she could have McDonald’s for being such a good actress,” Jongdae winks through the rearview mirror and Eunbi giggles.

“Hmm, you have convinced me” Junmyeon says, entering the parking lot of the restaurant “but no double beef burgers, ok?”

“Ok!” Eunbi gets out of her seat in record time, making Junmyeon quip and eyebrow and wonder out loud how she got out of there. Jongdae just laughs and Eunbi runs to the entrance door followed by her very concerned, still very proud dad. 

They make their orders and once they are done they take a seat by the large windows. The weather is nice enough today that only light sweaters are needed, still Junmyeon makes Eunbi put on a large coat because he is worried she’ll get sick. Jongdae can’t help but smile when the little girl airplanes a fry to his dad’s lips, evidently used to airplaned food herself.

“Dae!” she yells and throws a fry that he catches mid flight with his hand. Eunbi pouts, “No! You were supposed to eat it!”

“I will” Jongdae assures her, munching on it exaggeratedly. 

“No, no, catch it with your mouth!” she demands, preparing to launch another one. 

Junmyeon gives Jongdae a concerned look but he just shakes it off with a hand wave and positioning himself to receive the projectile. Eunbi throws it and magically Jongdae catches it with his teeth, biting viciously. The girl cheers loudly, forcing both adults to clap with her before returning to her happy meal and the little pink pokemon that it came with. 

“You are too nice with her,” Junmyeon says in between bites watching with focused eyes at the playground where she is currently building a lego tower. Kids can’t be still for too long, Jongdae knows that but he has never seen someone eat so fast and run so quickly because they saw a red and pink lego set. 

Jongdae shakes his head, “She is too nice with me.”

Eunbi shows them her finished statue and another girl walks towards her. Apparently the kid asks what it is and Eunbi shows off her work. The girl claps and Eunbi preens for a second before leaning down to destroy the tower only to invite the other girl to build a new one with her. 

“She is so nice,” Jongdae says, finishing his drink before daring to speak again. He can’t believe he still has to muster the courage to talk to the person he has been seeing for months. “Must have learnt that from her dad.” 

Junmyeon scoffs, “now you are just being corny.”

“Was it too bad?”

“Horrible,” Junmyeon chuckles, “I loved it”

It’s a second, a whirlpool of a moment, an instance in time where this tiny little McDonald’s by the big avenue becomes something more, something important. And Junmyeon’s hands move at the speed of light, one grabbing Jongdae’s right hand and the other cradling his neck, bringing him forward until their lips meet and Junmyeon smiles before diving in. Someone behind them wolf whistles and Jongdae giggles, letting the kiss grow just a little bit deeper. Junmyeon tastes like Coca Cola and cheeseburger and it’s wonderful. 

When they part it’s because Eunbi is yelling and Junmyeon instantly gets into Dad Mode only to see the girl a step away from them, arms crossed and frowning. 

“What happened baby?” he asks her, leaning down to grab her little shoulders. 

“You kissed!” Eunbi complains through a pout

“You do not want me to kiss Dae?”

“Yes, but I want a kiss too!” 

Junmyeon laughs, scoops her up in between those big dad arms and smooches her entire face, making her laugh. 

“I want a kiss!” she says, pointing at Jongdae, who really doesn’t panic because he is still processing the McDonald’s kiss. He approaches the father and daughter, hesitantly pressing a kiss to her temple. “That’s better!” Eunbi chimes and it sounds so much like her dad when he fixes her clothes. 

“What a demanding little lady,” Junmyeon says, kissing the crown of her head before putting her down. 

“Can we get an ice cream at the mall?” she asks, looking at Jongdae who looks at Junmyeon who nods. 

“Sure, my brother must be there. He’ll give us some free sprinkles” 

Eunbi’s uproarious ‘sprinkles!’ makes him smile all the way to the mall. 

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

“Did it bother you?” Junmyeon asks two nights later over the phone. He is washing the dishes but the doubt was killing him. 

“What thing?” Jongdae asks, there is the sound of running water coming to a sudden stop, then a door closes. 

“Me kissing you”

Jongdae let’s out a sharp ‘ah’, falling silent. 

“Dae?” Junmyeon asks, fear looming over him. 

“It didn’t bother me,” Jongdae answers, he sounds strangely soft. “I liked it. A lot.” “Wish I could kiss you now” he says and Junmyeon can almost hear the smile he must be wearing on his pretty lips. “You are a great kisser” 

“Oh, am I?” Junmyeon dries the last plate and leans back against the kitchen counter, smiling softly. “We should kiss more then.”

“I would love too” Jongdae confesses, giggling like a teenager “Your lips are very soft”

“Yours are soft too, and pretty,” Junmyeon licks his lips, almost unconsciously, remembering how nice it felt to kiss him “You taste amazing”

“Don’t say things like that at this time”

“What time? 11pm?” 

“Yeah,” Jongdae mutters.

“Why not?”

“It leads to weird things”

“Weird things? Like what?” Junmyeon presses, chuckling at the resulting groan. 

“Junmyeon…” he whines but then he is sighing. 

“Ah, I see, little Dae gets imaginative at this time of the day” he cocks his head to the side, watching the kitchen curtain move in the soft late night breeze “What are you imagining?”

“You,” Jongdae answers quickly “and me”

“Where are you?”

“In my bed, you?”

Junmyeon steps out of the kitchen, walking slowly to the front door to make sure it’s closed. Eunbi is having a sleepover with her cousin so he is alone in the house...

“Same,” he says, sitting back in his mauve duvet. 

“It took you a little bit to answer,”

“I was just getting comfortable”

“We just kissed for the first time and you already want to get ‘comfortable’?”

“I have wanted to kiss you since we first met” he answers with total honesty. Back in the bar, tipsy and desperate for human affection that didn’t come from a family member of a pitiful stranger, if he had a little bit less restrictions he would have taken him home, fucked him raw in his bed like he did in his college days. But Jongdae was so adorable that his restriction won, his desire for something more than letting off steam, than a quick fuck and nothing more. 

“Me too,” Jongdae whispers, there is the sound of rustle. 

“Why didn’t you do it?” Junmyeon asks. He knows his own reasons and wants the other side of the mirror too. 

“Too drunk.” Jongdae sighs, “I was scared you’d take advantage of me.”

“I would never do that”

“I know that now, which is why you took the time to call me to ask if kissing me was okay when it was more than okay and if I could I would be doing it right now.”

“Right now? You’d have to crawl over me to do that, I’m on my back”

Jongdae’s laughter is deeper than usual, but it is his voice what cracks Junmyeon. “I would love to do that. You are so handsome, probably all of you deserves a kiss or two”

“All of me?” he closes his eyes, loosens his belt before he goes insane “What about you? Don’t you think you deserve kisses all over?”

“Shut up, we are talking about you” Jongdae says through a laugh. Then he muses for a second, humming lowly. “But I’ll confess something. I really, really, like neck kisses”

“Hmm, I see” Junmyeon’s thoughts are all centered on his dick, so he can’t imagine kissing dressed up Jongdae, only shirtless, pantless, glistening skin Jongdae. “God, I’m getting horny thinking about kisses, I feel like a teenager”

“Oh sorry, Mr Grown Adult, do you want to talk about blowjobs perhaps?”

Junmyeon laughs but the image of Jongdae’s cheshire lips wrapped around his dick, his sharp black eyes staring up at him, his teary eyes, his own leaking dick between his legs, all hot, all handsome, all his… It makes him moan and Jongdae gasps. 

“Are you touching yourself?” he asks. 

“No.”

“Why not?” Jongdae questions, “Am I not hot enough?” 

“You are,” he responds on autopilot, then stops to think. “I haven’t seen your naked though”

“I haven’t seen you naked either but I think you would look good putting your dick inside of me, fucking me so hard until I can’t remember anything but your name”

Junmyeon groans as he tugs his cock, “God, how can you say things like that so easily?” He feels dirty and hot all over and it’s wonderful. 

“Sometimes I have to review Erotic books” Jongdae says and Junmyeon can almost see the way he shrugs. “Some are pretty bad in narration but the dirty talk is delightful”

“I can see that” he bites his lip, flicking his wrists because if he is going to masturbate it’s going to be good. “Do you mind bottoming?”

“Not at all, I like it both ways.”

“Good, because I can’t stop thinking of you riding me”

Jongdae moans, “I bet you are big, God, you’d stretch me so good, fuck me so deep.”

Jongdae keeps talking and Junmyeon can only moan and whimper because if he is so good with his tongue while speaking he can’t imagine what sex with him would be like. 

Junmyeon has not jerked off since college days, the wild and stupid years of his life, which is probably why he cums so hard he sees stars. Jongdae laughs and says they should see each other soon so they can kiss and do ‘something else…’. Junmyeon hangs up and arranges for Eunbi to sleep on Joohyun’s house another night, then calls Jongdae again and soon he has a dick appointment with all the emotions attached to it that an old sap like him needs. 

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

Jondgae is far braver over the phone, with the safety of distance between them. It’s easier to have phone sex than physical contact, specifically because he is a disaster who speaks a lot and knows a lot of theory and not enough practice. 

Objectively he knew that, but it doesn’t really dawn on him until he is butt naked in someone’s bed. Well, no, not someone’s bed but Junmyeon’s bed. That makes things worse, because Junmyeon apparently has no fears other than the safety of his daughter and Jongdae refuses to think about that girl when her dad is deepthroating him. 

“God, you are so good,” Jongdae moans, grabbing the nearest pillow. Junmyeon quips an eyebrow and it shouldn’t be so hot the sight of him looking up with glistened lips and glossy eyes but it is. He grabs Jongdae’s hand and puts in his head, sucking particularly hard until Jongdae pulls his hair. Junmyeon moans and Jongdae is absolutely lost. 

He lasts an embarrassingly short time, cumming like lightning, and hides his shame in the pillow behind his head. 

“I am such an idiot,” he mutters and Junmyeon is laughing and of course he is laughing. Jongdae is pathetic. He should just grab his stuff and leave. 

Junmyeon grabs the pillow from his face and leans down, pressing sweet kisses from his temple to his chin, grabbing him tightly before kissing his lips and it’s all sweet and tender despite the fact that Jongdae can feel Junmyeon’s hot and heavy dick against his left thigh.

“You are perfect,” he whispers and then his kisses turn lewd, tongue heavy, desperate, claiming.

Jongdae forgets, kiss by kiss, what he was so embarrassed about, lost in the way Junmyeon’s hands map out every part of his body. He remembers vaguely when his stupid dick beings to inflate again, but then Junmyeon’s fingers are working him open so diligently that he forgets his own name for a moment that feels eternal. 

Then Junmyeon is inside of him, turning until Jongdae is riding him and the way those beautiful brown eyes fill with lust, desire, two hands steadily holding him by the waist, make Jongdae moan wantonly. 

They finish together then, Jongdae collapsing over Junmyeon’s chest, who embraces him tightly, kissing him sweetly as they bask in the sweet afterglow. He must have yelled very hard because a few minutes later someone is knocking at the door and Junmyeon apologized a thousand times when he opened it, haphazardly wearing a pair of pants that he grabbed from the floor. Jongdae’s laughter is so loud that they’ll probably get another noise complaint. 

“You are a menace,” Junmyeon whispers when he climbs back into the bed, grabbing Jongdae’s face by the chin and pressing a tender kiss to his lips, “I love you”

“I love you?” Jongdae repeats, it’s a question and it makes Junmyeon laugh. “Is it your thing to confess deep emotions after sex?”

“I don’t know,” Junymeon shrugs, settling on his side so they are staring at each other. “You are the first person I have confessed ‘deep emotions’ to after sex”

“I’ll believe that” Jongdae responds, losts in how pretty Junmyeon looks with his skin glowing with sweat, the low light of the bedside lamp illuminating him just right, his smile small but tender “I…”

“You don’t have to say it,” he says, reaching for Jongdae’s face, caressing his cheek softly.

“I want to,” he assures, leaning to his touch like a kitten. “I love you… too”

Junmyeon’s smile could light up the world. 

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

“What did you do when I was with aunt Joo?”

Jongdae and Junmyeon trade a ‘fuck, what do we say?’ stare over the table. Joohyun and her husband giggle, Yerim makes her broccoli and her cauliflower fight to death. 

“We watched movies,” Junmyeon answers. 

“Triple X movies, Myeonnie?” Joohyun asks. Junmyeon would very much like to shut her up for the rest of her days. 

“What is a triple X movie?” Eunbi asks, sipping her orange juice with her little curious eyes set on her nervous father.

“Very bad movies,” Jongdae assures her “Awful, wouldn’t recommend them.”

“Yeah, me either” Junmyeon says, grabbing Jongdae’s hand and pressing a kiss to its back. 

“Well, Jongdae, it’s so good to have you for lunch,” Joohyun says, changing the topic quickly as lightning. “Junmyeon has told us a lot about you”

“Hopefully only good things.”

“Of course, I don’t think Junmyeon could see any flaws in you. He is always saying ‘Jongdae is so nice, Jongdae is so smart, Jongdae is so funny’. I’m convinced he would name you president if he could” Junmyeon has once more the need to kick her under the table but that’d be impolite and very violent and they have been raised to choose words before fists.

“Instead, Junmyeon is the president of Jongdae’s fan club” her husband supplies and Junmyeon now sees why they get along so well.

“True,” Joohyun agrees and Junmyeon’s face must be outrageou because she laughs. 

“Forgive my sister,” Junmyeon says after lunch is finished, walking together towards his car so he can drive him to his home “She is a bit… nosy”

“I understand. My sister in law is nosy too.”

“Well, they set us together, they must be a little bit good”

“I almost didn’t go that night,” Jongdae confesses “I was so scared of acting like an idiot in front of someone.”

Junmyeon takes his hand in between his, squeezing it tight. “I’m so glad you went,” he says, leaning to press a kiss on those beautiful lips.

“I’m glad too,” Jongdae answers and his smile is so bright that it rivals the sun’s own light. 

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

It’s been a while since Jongdae has had a bad day. It’d be surprising if it weren’t for the fact that Junmyeon has five weeks of holidays and Eunbi is out of school for the entirety of the summer and both have decided that because Jongdae’s apartment is closer to the leisure’s installations that Junmyeon’s company opened for their employees for summer, that they will camp in his living room. Literally camp, because Eunbi has brought her sleeping tent and set it up behind the largest couch, right by the window. 

“Good morning,” Junmyeon says, offering a cold glass of apple juice to a just out of bed Jongdae.

“I hate that both of you are morning people.”

Six years old Eunbi would have laughed but nine years old Eunbi blows a raspberry and speaks. 

“You love us, fool!” she responds. 

“Eunbi! Don’t say that!” Junmyeon admonishes. 

“But Yerim says it!” 

“If Yerim jumps from a moving train would you jump too”

Eunbi shrugs, “Yeah, she jumped for a reason and probably needs help.”

“I hate that you are smart,” the father says and his kid laughs and continues to eat her cereals. 

"She inherited it from her dad,” Jongdae assures, drinking his juice in one gulp. 

“You bet she did!” Junmyeon turns around, picking his phone from the kitchen counter and opening a very loud audio of Joohyun asking if they have a cooler. 

Jongdae has his very own set of messages, most from Seulgi who asks him if they need anything. He tells her they don’t, she only has to go with her kids and enjoy the afternoon. 

Junmyeon and Jongdae have not introduced their families to each other, despite the fact that Jongdae is a frequent guest of Joohyun and Junmyeon has free ice cream in the mall’s store, so a day in the pool seems like a perfect excuse to get them to meet. 

Joohyun is already there when they arrive, apparently enough people know her brother’s name in the club for her to be allowed in without much issue. She has set two tables with a lot of chairs and several umbrellas. 

“Good afternoon, fellas!” she salutes and Yerim runs to hug her cousin, her pink swim suit matched with a polka dot hat. 

“Hello, Hyun!” Junmyeon says, while Jongdae wonders if this side is farther away from people than others, because he doesn’t want Junmyeon to feel the stress of a big crowd adding up to the loved ones meeting other loved ones.

Jongdae’s brother and Seulgi arrive fifteen minutes later, with several types of food that they display on the table. But it isn’t until Joohyun and Seulgi salute each other that Jongdae notices something strange. 

“Nice to meet you, my name is Joohyun,” the smaller of them says and Jongdae’s sister in law introduces in a similar manner. 

Junmyeon seems to have caught this moment too, “Wait, you don’t know each other?”

But women shake their heads. 

“But how did you set us up on a blind date if you didn’t know each other?”

Joohyun laughs, “I set you up on a date with Taeyeon’s brother in law. You aren’t Taeyeon’s brother in law?” Jongdae shakes his head softly. “Oh my…”

“I set you up with a friend from work,” Seulgi admits, shrugging. 

“It was destiny,” Joohyun says, but she is laughing so loud that the people sitting in other tables turn to look at her. 

Junmyeon looks at Jongdae and he feels such a wave of relief when those arms he adores wrap around him and those lips he knows so well press a kiss to his neck. 

“It was destiny, then,” he whispers and Jongdae laughs through the embarrassment of knowing some other poor bastard spent probably hours waiting for a blind date that never showed up. 

When he watches Junmyeon race Eunbi to the pool, carrying the towels and the sunscreen and the sunglasses, stopping midway to grab Jongdae’s hand and run together, Jongdae is glad he didn’t sit at someone else’s table that night. 

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are more than appreciated :*


End file.
